ck. If in the left-hand semicircle, run, keeping the
wind if possible, on the starboard quarter, and when the barometer
rises, if necessary to keep the ship from going too far from the
proper course, heave to on the port tack. When the vessel lies in the
direct line of advance of the storm--which position is, as previously
observed, the most dangerous of all--run with the wind on the starboard
quarter. In all cases increase as soon as possible the distance from
the center, bearing in mind that the whole storm field is advancing.

In receding from the center of a typhoon the barometer will rise
and the wind and sea subside. It should be remarked that in some
cases a vessel may, if the storm be traveling slowly, sail from the
dangerous semicircle across the front of the storm, and thus out of
its influence. But as the rate at which the storm is traveling is
quite uncertain, this is a hazardous proceeding, and before attempting
to cross the seaman should hesitate and carefully consider all the
circumstances of the case, observing particularly the rate at which
the barometer is falling.

Northward of the Equator the current is divided into north and south
equatorial currents by the equatorial counter-current, a stream
flowing from west to east throughout the Pacific Ocean. The currents
in the western part of the Pacific, to the northward of the Equator,
are affected by the monsoons, and to the southward of the Equator
they are deflected by the coast of Australia.

The trade drift, which flows to the westward between the parallels
of 9 degrees and 20 degrees N., on reaching the eastern shores of
the Philippine Islands again turns to the northward, forming near the
northern limit of that group the commencement of the Japan stream. The
main body of the current then flows along the east coast of Formosa,
and from that island pursues a northeasterly course through the
chain of islands lying between Formosa and Japan; and sweeping along
the southeastern coast of Japan in the same general direction, it is
known to reach the parallel of 50 degrees N. The limits and velocity
of the Japan stream are considerably influenced by the monsoons in
the China. Sea, and by the prevailing winds in the corresponding
seasons in the Yellow and Japan seas; also by the various drift
currents which these periodic winds produce.

Admiral Dewey has forwarded to the navy department a memorandum
on mineral resources of the Philippines prepared at th